First Nation chief pushes for more firefighting support as man awaits sentence in death of woman, 4 children

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.

Nearly seven years since a woman and four children died in a house fire in northwestern Ontario, and as sentencing looms for a man found guilty of second-degree murder, the chief of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) says the First Nation's firefighting services remain inadequate.

Donny Morris said the remote Oji-Cree community, some 580 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, now has a fire truck and a fire hall but needs a bigger space. The chief added they also need permanent funding and permanent staff for health-care and emergency services — including paramedics, nurses and mental health counsellors, and accommodations for them.

“It all boils down [to], is the willingness to work from the governments, both levels of government, is it there? Are they willing to commit? Are they willing to meet?” Morris said.

“They have busy schedules they set for their southern counterparts — businesses, banks, industry — but no time for us. No time for us little Indians up north.”

The fire on May 2, 2019 resulted in the deaths of: 

The Ontario Forensic Pathology Service and Office of the Chief Coroner determined cause of their deaths was smoke inhalation.

Archie McKay, Geraldine's on-again, off-again partner, was charged in December 2020 with five counts of first-degree murder.

This past April, Justice John S. Fregeau found McKay found him guilty of second-degree murder “in relation to the culpable homicides of Geraldine Chapman, Angel McKay, [Karl] Cutfeet, Hailey Chapman and Shyra Chapman,” according to court documents obtained by CBC News.

Sentencing submissions were heard at the Superior Court of Justice in Kenora last Wednesday. Sentencing is scheduled for March 23 at 10 a.m. in Kenora before Fregeau, Crown prosecutor James Cavanagh told CBC News.  

Geraldine and McKay were Shyra's biological parents. The other children who died in the fire lived with Chapman and were in her care.

The 2019 fire prompted KI to declare a state of emergency over the mental health effects of the losses. The First Nation did not have a fire department at that time.

Indigenous people are over five times more likely to die in a fire than their non-Indigenous counterparts, according to the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council.

“That number increases to over 10 times for First Nations people living on reserves,” the council says on its website.